| ISBN: 978-1-55587-557-2 $29.95 | ||
| 1995/320 pages/LC: 94-31381 | ||
Joining the growing body of literature examining NGOs and social movements in Latin America, this collection reaches beyond the study of the organizations themselves to explore their complex collaborative ventures with municipal governments—efforts that offer citizens a measure of hope for meeting housing, health, education, and environmental needs through experimentation, contracting, extension, and self-provisioning.
These studies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico aim to advance both democracy and development by concentrating on the local "capillaries" of society, where demands, supports, and information are exchanged to keep the political organism healthy. Ultimately, assert the authors, democratization and development, like effective poverty reduction and social problem solving, must be achieved at the local level.
"These essays demonstrate convincingly that nongovernment organizations (NGOs), community associations, and social movements are increasing in number and salience."—Latin American Research Review
"[Provides] insight into the workings of clientelism, populism, and the struggles between private and public, local and national, civil and military centers of power.... The book concludes with the editor's brilliant analysis of the diversity and dynamics of NGOs, how they serve as laboratories of social change, and their contribution to democratization with such processes as participation, access, accountability, and responsiveness."—The Americas